Sudden Strike Review

The commands have been completely simplified. There are no advance formation or AI commands, so you'll have no trouble in accommodating to the interface. There is also no micro economy - you'll have to cope with what you get at the start of the mission. This increases the dynamics and tension, which are the main trumps of this game. You will hardly ever find the situation peaceful. The maps are sufficiently big to give you the right kind o atmosphere. Combined enemy attacks on your structures, long range guns which attack ground in the area from which they expect to be attacked, close quarter combat between tanks and infantry that didn't manage to hide in the forest, and the helpless tanks stuck in narrow streets are only a part of the brilliant atmosphere offered by this game. Liberating cities and villages is a story of its own. You can finally see why the battle for Stalingrad lasted that much - even the tiniest of villages are a good spot for setting traps, so you have to carefully plan your siege or get simply slaughtered by the fortified infantry. You will have to wage a battle for practically every house as your mortars clear enemy machineguns, and infantry and snipers rush to take up their new positions. The bodies stay on the battlefield, and black smoke gushes from destroyed vehicles providing a good and realistic picture of a WWII battle aftermath.

There are no levels of difficulty, but that doesn't affect replay value. Just like in the arcade games where you play the game over and over again striving to enter your name in the High-score list, the authors decide to rate your success in points and keep track of it in a table, so you'll find yourself replaying the mission in order to beat your own record.

And after this explosion of inspiration induced by all the good features of Sudden Strike, I have to get back to certain flaws, which go to prove that the programmers did not do their best. The terrains are extremely monotonous, both the forests of France and the frozen Eastern Front. Houses and trees dominate each map, and you'll often get a feeling of déjà vu. I also have complaints about the game perspective. Trees did cover units, but I doubt that the generals couldn't tell where their units are. You'll often have to click around randomly until you find your unit that got lost in the forest.

Sound effects are very good. Soldiers aren't too verbose, but each side has it's own variant of English language. I didn't find the music too becoming for a war game.

Apart from the campaigns, the game features 14 other single player missions. Multiplayer mode includes 22 multiplayer maps for 2 to 12 players. You can also form up to four teams from different nations. You will be able to wage war over Internet, LAN or modem.

Sudden strike is a serious attack on the market currently ruled by Age of Empires and Red Alert serial. I will not diminish these games and CDV is the one to blame there. This game has all the aspects of a potential winner, but it lacks decent "package and makeup." I am still an optimist and could not see why an enhanced game like Sudden Strike 2 (or another RTS using the same engine) couldn't be the candidate for the best RTS of the year.

And finally, some advice: The tanks have a limited sight-range and can easily be attacked by enemy they cannot see. This is why it is important to always take a sniper or a recon vehicle with a group of your tanks. Try not to destroy enemy mortars. Eliminate the crew with a sniper, and then add mortars to your own arsenal.